Space Invaders? a Search for Patterns Underlying the Coexistence of Alien Black Rats and Galápagos Rice Rats

Oecologia DOI 10.1007/s00442-006-0447-7 COMMUNITY ECOLOGY Space invaders? A search for patterns underlying the coexistence of alien black rats and Galápagos rice rats Donna B. Harris · Stephen D. Gregory · David W. Macdonald Received: 19 September 2005 / Accepted: 26 April 2006 © Springer-Verlag 2006 Abstract The introduction and spread of the black rat increased with R. rattus density perhaps reXecting an Rattus rattus is believed to have caused the worst increase in foraging eVort necessary to compensate for decline of any vertebrate taxon in Galápagos. How- the costs of interspeciWc exploitation or interference ever, the “extinct” Santiago rice rat Nesoryzomys competition. The distribution, microhabitat selection, swarthi has recently been rediscovered in sympatry and abundance–habitat relations of N. swarthi suggest with R. rattus providing the Wrst exception to this gen- that the endemic cactus O. galapageia may facilitate eral pattern of displacement. We carried out an explor- interspeciWc coexistence. Further research should atory investigation of this novel system with the aim of include a comparison of inter-seasonal resource prefer- identifying patterns that may facilitate the apparent ence and foraging activity of the two species coupled coexistence of the two species. We carried out an with replicated Weld experiments to conWrm and quan- extensive survey of Santiago Island to map the current tify competition and to elucidate the mechanism of distribution of the endemic rice rat and to explore competitive coexistence. broad scale distribution–habitat associations. We then used live-trapping, radio-tracking, and spool-and-line Keywords Cactus · Introduced species · Microhabitat · tracking to quantify abundance–habitat correlations Spatial segregation and to test for evidence of interspeciWc spatial segregation, alteration of N. swarthi activity patterns (spatial and temporal), and microhabitat partitioning. We Introduction found that N. swarthi has disappeared from part of its historical range and appears to be restricted to a 14 km The patterns underlying the coexistence of ecologically stretch of the north-central coast, characterised by high similar species have been a major focus of community density of the cactus Opuntia galapageia. In contrast, ecologists for the last 40 years. Much of this research the generalist R. rattus was found at all survey sites. We has concentrated on small mammal communities and found no evidence of spatial segregation, and home there is now ample evidence to show that spatial, tem- range size, temporal activity and density of N. swarthi poral and resource partitioning play crucial roles in the did not vary with local density of R. rattus. However, structuring of these natural communities (e.g. Scho- pre-dawn and post-dusk N. swarthi activity levels ener 1974; Price 1978; Abramsky et al. 1979; Bowers 1982; Morris 1987; Kotler and Brown 1988; Jorgensen and Demarais 1999; Jones et al. 2001). In contrast, the Communicated by Hannu Ylonen role of interspeciWc competition and coexistence in the restructuring of invaded communities has received rel- D. B. Harris (&) · S. D. Gregory · D. W. Macdonald atively little attention. Although many authors postu- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, late competition with exotic small mammals to explain Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Tubney House, Abingdon Road, Tubney, Abingdon, OX13 5QL, UK the demise of native species (e.g. Brosset 1963; Alvarez e-mail: [email protected] and Gonzalez 1991; Stephenson 1993) much of this 123 Oecologia evidence is circumstantial and commendable studies of ever, the rediscovery of N. swarthi in sympatry with R. competitive processes in invaded systems remain rare rattus on Santiago Island is an exception to this rather (e.g. Gurnell et al. 2004). This is unfortunate consider- clear pattern of alien arrival and native extinction. This ing the potential contribution of such research to the is particularly intriguing when we consider the chronol- Welds of community ecology and evolutionary biology ogy and geography of the R. rattus invasion. Genetic (Yom-Tov et al. 1999; Shea and Chesson 2002; Cour- analyses suggest that R. rattus Wrst landed ashore at champ et al. 2003) and the provision of information rel- James Bay, Santiago in the late 1600s (Patton et al. evant to the conservation of endangered species (e.g. 1975). Subsequent, separate introductions to the archi- Ligtvoet and Van Wijngaarden 1994; Krupa and Has- pelago, resulting in the current colonisation of 33 kins 1996; Macdonald et al. 2001; Zavaleta et al. 2001; islands (Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS), Bryce et al. 2002; Courchamp et al. 2003). unpublished data) and successful invasion of all Galá- An unexpected opportunity to explore such a sys- pagos habitats, coincided with the loss of Nesoryzomys tem has arisen between endemic rodents and intro- and Oryzomys species wherever the black rat became duced black rats in the Galápagos Islands following the established (Clark 1984; Key and Muñoz Heredia 1994; rediscovery, in 1997, of a population of the endangered Dowler et al. 2000). So, what conditions may foster the rice rat Nesoryzomys swarthi on the north-central coast coexistence of N. swarthi and R. rattus on Santiago? of Santiago Island (Dowler et al. 2000). This species At the coarsest level, species coexistence may be had been presumed extinct since its initial collection at facilitated by diVerential macro-habitat selection (e.g. Sullivan Bay (Fig. 1) on the north-east coast of Santi- Abramsky et al. 1990; Bryce et al. 2002). At a Wner ago in 1906 (Orr 1938). It was believed that N. swarthi scale, where species are sympatric within the same hab- had met the same fate as at least half of the species of itat, spatial segregation may be maintained through the once diverse assemblage of 12 endemic rodent spe- interspeciWc territoriality (e.g. Lofgren 1995). Alterna- cies; the Galápagos rice rats (Orr 1938). This group had tively, microhabitat segregation may act to partition dominated the mammalian fauna of Galápagos but space (e.g. Bowers et al. 1987) and/or resources (e.g. since the discovery of the archipelago in 1535, this Price and Waser 1985; Monamy and Fox 1999). A shift group has experienced the highest extinction rate of in temporal activity patterns may occur to minimise the any vertebrate taxon in Galápagos (Clark 1984; Dow- probability of contact with the dominant species (e.g. ler et al. 2000). Today, just four endemic species Ziv et al. 1993; Jones et al. 2001). remain: N. narboroughi and N. fernandinae on Fernan- In our introductory survey of this novel system we dina, N. swarthi on Santiago and Oryzomys bauri on used a combination of radio-tracking, spool-and-line Santa Fe (Dowler et al. 2000). Circumstantial spatio- tracking and live-trapping to test two preliminary temporal evidence suggests that the introduced black hypotheses: (1) Given the strong case for displacement rat (Rattus rattus) played a leading role in the loss of of other Galápagos rice rat species following R. rattus the Galápagos Nesoryzomys and Oryzomys species establishment across the archipelago, we hypothesised (Brosset 1963; Niethammer 1964; Clark 1984). How- that R. rattus and N. swarthi would exhibit segregation Fig. 1 Map of Santiago show- ing hair tube survey sites. White symbols indicate sites occupied by N. swarthi and black symbols indicate uninhabited sites. All sites were occupied by R. rattus 123 Oecologia in macro- or micro-habitat or in space per se. (2) We distributed among a shrub layer that mostly consists of hypothesised that N. swarthi would respond to increas- Clerodendrum molle, Castela galapageia and Lantana ing R. rattus density by adapting home range use or peduncularis. The area is exceptionally dry as it lies in temporal activity pattern to minimise interspeciWc con- the rain-shadow of the larger Santa Cruz Island and the tact and/or maximise resource acquisition. highlands of Santiago. Past search eVorts for N. swarthi To validate the implications of our Wndings for the have focused on southern and highland regions (Clark conservation status of this endangered, endemic spe- 1984; Dowler et al. 2000; CDRS, unpublished data) but cies it was of paramount importance to begin by delin- have failed to Wnd any N. swarthi in these areas. Previ- eating the distribution of N. swarthi in relation to that ous research has demonstrated that R. rattus is noctur- of the exotic R. rattus. This was achieved through an nal, exhibiting some activity in each hour of darkness, extensive census of the previously unexplored parts of reaching an activity peak 2–3 h after the onset of dark- Santiago. The investigation then proceeded to focus ness and that this pattern appears to be fairly general down through progressively Wner spatial scales from within the species (Barnett et al. 1975; Meehan 1984; habitat associations to a detailed contrast of microhab- Tobin et al. 1996; Innes 2005). Both Galápagos black itat selection and a brief exploration of activity pat- rats and rice rats are omnivorous including a variety of terns. fruits, seeds, invertebrate matter and carrion in their diet (Clark 1981; Jackson 1993). R. rattus is larger than N. swarthi (mean mass of male adult 183 and 115 g, Materials and methods respectively and female adult 141 and 91 g, respectively) (D.B. Harris, unpublished data). The data for Study site and species this study were collected over 3 years from 2002 to 2004. The volcanic Galápagos Islands are situated 960 km west of mainland Ecuador in the PaciWc Ocean. The Current distribution uninhabited island of Santiago is the fourth largest Galápagos island at 585 km2 with a maximum elevation To delineate the current distribution of N. swarthi, of 907 m (Jackson 1993). The climate is strongly inXu- baited hair tubes were used to survey for the presence enced by oceanic currents and there are two main or absence of N.

Load more